Howzat? The Financial Health of English Cricket: Not Out, Yet

Daniel Plumley,Simon Shibli,Robbie Millar,Rob Wilson

doi:10.3390/ijfs7010011

Daniel Plumley, Simon Shibli + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ijfs7010011

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Abstract

In 1997 a review of the financial health of English county cricket highlighted strategic weaknesses within the professional game, principally an over-reliance by clubs on the annual grants provided to them by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). Without such grants the teams, in general terms, would be insolvent. Using the financial statements of the First Class Cricket Counties, this paper explores how the financial position and performance of the county game has changed, 20 years on from the seminal study. A series of structural changes to the game had been made, yet financial problems are still evident. Counties are as reliant on central grant income as they were in 1997, although there are cases where clubs have made strategic enhancements and are becoming self-sustainable as going concerns. Rather than the ECB directly funding county revenue it should be working in collaboration with individual clubs to achieve developments in the game from the grassroots upwards, in order to help clubs grow their own revenue streams.

Highlights

In 1997, just over 20 years ago, a paper published by Shibli and Wilkinson-Riddle in the Journal of Applied Accounting Research examined the financial health of English county cricket, the finances of the 18 first-class counties
This paper has effectively outlined that the county championship clubs are arguably as reliant on the central grant income from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) as they were 20 years ago
There is the requirement of the league and its governing body to maintain a sustained level of competition amongst its member clubs in line with the theoretical determinants of what makes an attractive sports league considering the ‘joint’ production nature of professional team sports

Summary

Introduction

In 1997, just over 20 years ago, a paper published by Shibli and Wilkinson-Riddle in the Journal of Applied Accounting Research examined the financial health of English county cricket, the finances of the 18 first-class counties. The grant money from the ECB remains and constitutes a distribution of international match-related revenues driven by the England National Team and is, dependant on the national team’s sporting success and attractiveness to spectators, sponsors and broadcasters. We set out to examine the current financial health of the domestic game, 20 years on, in 2018. From a participation perspective, is second only to football in England, yet the professional game has not seen the revenue growth, at the elite end, in line with football, yet there have been major developments in the domestic game during the last 20 years in terms of its changing format and structure. Stuart Robson former Head of Marketing at the ECB stated:

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